PLANS to transfer a ‘vital’ dementia service from a charity to a private provider have been shelved after families’ concerns sparked emergency talks.

The Tele revealed how Alzheimer Scotland had been ‘forced to withdraw' from delivering the specialist daycare service running from its Nicol Street centre in Greenock.

They said a review undertaken by Inverclyde Health & Social Care Partnership, who commission and fund the service, left the charity in an ‘untenable’ financial situation.

Care was instead to be transferred to a local private provider but those plans have now been shelved until at least December, after an emergency meeting last week.

In a joint letter sent to Nicol Street service users on September 8, representatives of Alzheimer Scotland and HSCP said: 'We are pleased to advise that the proposed transfer of Alzheimer Scotland Day Services to an alternative provider on 30th September 2022 will not now go ahead.

'The current service contract will be extended and during this period we will work with you to review, and agree together, the best way forward.'

Prior to the announcement, families of those using the service told of their anger at being ‘left in the dark’ over by the authorities.

They contacted Councillor Colin Jackson, who decided to call an emergency meeting with HSCP bosses and other stakeholders to resolve the issue.

The councillor, social care convener, said: “These families rightly felt that this decision was purely financial and not enough diligence was paid to the care that was now being offered to them.

“These are vulnerable adults who need specialist care to keep them safe and to provide them with quality of life, but somehow during these negotiations their needs and the concerns of their families were lost.

“This will always be the result when the care of our loved ones is traded on the open market like a common commodity, which is how we do social care in Scotland.

“We need to make sure they are involved in every aspect of this consultation and provide the confidence that has been lost.

“This is why I decided to intervene and raise my own concerns on how this had been handled and to try and find a solution that addressed the concerns raised by these families.

“I will make sure they are not ignored and that they will be listened to and involved in current and future consultations.”

An Inverclyde HSCP spokesperson said discussions were 'ongoing with service users and their families to ensure their needs are met'.

Fiona Kane of Alzheimer Scotland added: “We will be working with all key stakeholders, including the people we support, and agree together the best way forward to ensure we continue to support people affected by dementia in the Inverclyde area.”

Ian Gibbons, one of the family members who spoke out in the Tele, today thanked Cllr Jackson for stepping in, but he is also calling for an apology and assurances from HSCP about the future of the service.

Mr Gibbons, whose wife attends the unit, said: "I am very grateful to Councillor Jackson for his urgent intervention but I want to see real action, acknowledgement of HSCP failures, apologies and the full reinstatement of the Nicol Street specialist dementia day care centre.”